R help - Aug 2002 - NA rownames in dataframes

Hey everyone!

I am seeing strange behavior with NA in the rownames of dataframes:
> a <- data.frame(1:3, row.names = c("r1", NA, "r3"))
> cbind(a)
       X1.3
r1        1
<NA>      2
r3        3

Everything works.  The peculiar thing is that when the NA is in the first
row, things no longer work as I would have expected:
> b <- data.frame(1:3, row.names = c(NA, "r2", "r3"))
> cbind(b)
Error in if (missing(row.names) && (nrows[i] > 0) &&
(rowsi[[1]] != ""))
row.names <- data.row.names(row.names,  : 
	missing value where logical needed
> data.frame(b)
Error in if (missing(row.names) && (nrows[i] > 0) &&
(rowsi[[1]] != ""))
row.names <- data.row.names(row.names,  : 
	missing value where logical needed
> traceback()
3: data.frame(..., check.names = FALSE)
2: cbind(...)
1: cbind(b)

This seems to be a problem associated only with dataframes, as a similar
example using matrices works perfectly fine.  Has anyone experienced this
behavior before?

Thanks!

Derek
> R.version
         _                   
platform sparc-sun-solaris2.6
arch     sparc               
os       solaris2.6          
system   sparc, solaris2.6   
status                       
major    1                   
minor    5.1                 
year     2002                
month    06                  
day      17                  
language R
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It's a bug in data.frame.  You should not be allowed NA rownames.
Solution: don't specify them.

I'll add a test for 1.6.0.

On Wed, 28 Aug 2002, Yi, Derek wrote:
> Hey everyone!
>
> I am seeing strange behavior with NA in the rownames of dataframes:
>
> > a <- data.frame(1:3, row.names = c("r1", NA,
"r3"))
> > cbind(a)
>        X1.3
> r1        1
> <NA>      2
> r3        3
>
> Everything works.  The peculiar thing is that when the NA is in the first
> row, things no longer work as I would have expected:
>
> > b <- data.frame(1:3, row.names = c(NA, "r2",
"r3"))
> > cbind(b)
> Error in if (missing(row.names) && (nrows[i] > 0) &&
(rowsi[[1]] != ""))
> row.names <- data.row.names(row.names,  :
> 	missing value where logical needed
> > data.frame(b)
> Error in if (missing(row.names) && (nrows[i] > 0) &&
(rowsi[[1]] != ""))
> row.names <- data.row.names(row.names,  :
> 	missing value where logical needed
>
> > traceback()
> 3: data.frame(..., check.names = FALSE)
> 2: cbind(...)
> 1: cbind(b)
>
> This seems to be a problem associated only with dataframes, as a similar
> example using matrices works perfectly fine.  Has anyone experienced this
> behavior before?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Derek
>
> > R.version
>          _
> platform sparc-sun-solaris2.6
> arch     sparc
> os       solaris2.6
> system   sparc, solaris2.6
> status
> major    1
> minor    5.1
> year     2002
> month    06
> day      17
> language R
>
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
> r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
> Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
> (in the "body", not the subject !)  To: r-help-request at
stat.math.ethz.ch
>
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._
>
-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272860 (secr)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

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"Yi, Derek" <Derek.Yi at FMR.COM> writes:
> > data.frame(b)
> Error in if (missing(row.names) && (nrows[i] > 0) &&
(rowsi[[1]] != ""))
> row.names <- data.row.names(row.names,  : 
> 	missing value where logical needed
> 
> > traceback()
> 3: data.frame(..., check.names = FALSE)
> 2: cbind(...)
> 1: cbind(b)
> 
> This seems to be a problem associated only with dataframes, as a similar
> example using matrices works perfectly fine.  Has anyone experienced this
> behavior before?
Not to my knowledge, on this list, anyway. However, it looks like a
fairly clear bug. I think you want 

... && !(rowsi[[1]] %in% "")

in the relevant line about two-thirds through data.frame().

Character NA's (as opposed to the string "NA") are a relatively
new
invention, and oversights like this are bound to happen.

(NA rownames are generally a bad idea, though...)

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Blegdamsvej 3  
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     2200 Cph. N   
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)             FAX: (+45) 35327907
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